CLEVELAND -- With the Browns having been eliminated from playoff contention for almost a month, the only in-season ramification of Cleveland's 13-6 win against the Pittsburgh Steelers was denying a rival the opportunity to clinch the AFC North title.
However, the victory could have a lasting impact on the Browns' offseason.
With a loss in the final two weeks of the 2025 regular season, the Browns would have been assured of a top-two pick in the 2026 NFL draft, which could be used on a quarterback. Instead, Cleveland improved to 4-12 and now has a 55% chance to get a top-five pick, according to ESPN Analytics, with an outside chance to get a top-three pick. The Browns entered Week 17 with a 24.2% chance to get the No. 1 pick -- behind only the Las Vegas Raiders and New York Giants -- and an 88% chance to get a top-5 pick.
"It's just our DNA, obviously," Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said of Cleveland's win. "We can talk about the big picture later, but in the meantime, small picture, division opponent in front of us. They love playing together. They love playing next to, you know, their brothers, and that's just what we're about."
In the Browns' postgame locker room, where wins this season have been few and far between, there was no concern about how the win impacts draft positioning.
"No one signed up to lose. No one signed up to lose at all," defensive end Myles Garrett. "So I don't care what the situation is with the record. Not a single one of us want to line up and lay down to a team or a man that's in front of us. No, we got put here in this place or selected, whatever it was -- drafted to come here and win. Has it always been that way? No, but I'll be damned if I'm just going to go out there and lay down to another team just because we want some more draft picks. That's not me."
Nonetheless, the Week 17 win could impact the trajectory of the Browns' offseason. Last year, Cleveland finished 3-14 and ended up with the second pick in April's draft. Sitting behind the Tennessee Titans, the Browns missed out on the opportunity to select quarterback Cam Ward with the top pick. Cleveland deemed no other quarterbacks worthy of a top pick and traded back with the Jacksonville Jaguars to the No. 5 pick, getting a package that included a 2026 first-round pick.
The Browns drafted quarterbacks Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders in the third and fifth rounds, respectively, and entered training camp with a quarterback competition that also consisted of veterans Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett.
Since then, there has been speculation the Browns could target a quarterback with a high pick in the 2026 draft. Struggles at the position, where Cleveland has used three different starters this season and posted the lowest QBR in the NFL (24.7), have done nothing to quell that notion.
However, for players who have experienced a combined seven wins in the past two seasons, the feeling of a win was treasured more than what a victory could have brought in the draft.
"I'll tell you what, I do not blame the fans for thinking about the future," left guard Joel Bitonio said. "But as players in this locker room, every time you go on the field, it's a rsum. This is a real sport. This is the NFL. You have to put your best foot forward when you go out there. You have to compete.
"For this team, there are a lot of young guys -- you look at Carson [Schwesinger], Mason [Graham], Shedeur, Dylan Sampson, Harold Fannin Jr. with that touchdown catch. These guys are trying to build a culture for the future, and to go out there and be like, 'We're going to lose our last couple of games for a better draft pick,' it would never cross a player's mind. Maybe the fans want to have some fan fiction, maybe upstairs is hoping or something like that, but I know the players and coaches fight for every win and every time you go on the field, it's a rsum builder."
